cyphert's blog

This class has taught me a lot about myself and my passions and given me a very realistic view of what I want to do with my major. I was very happy to be refreshed on what it feels like to edit a film and create something from a vision. Learning the editing software was difficult but in the end paid off as now I have a firm grasp on using programs like Final Cut & After Effects. My favorite project over the course of the semester was the still image story as I had a lot of fun making it and the result was something I treasured. I have become so motivated after working on these projects that I actually plan to step up my game in the 48 hours by making my own films instead of acting in them. I love this passion that has been revived inside of me this semester. While I began slacking in the theatre department and improv community, I became much more involved with film as I made my first independent films like Game of Gambits & the Movement/Rhythm and Final Project.

I as well learned to develop my skills in scheduling shoots better and being more organized and punctual with everything. I as well had experience working with film majors like Reece, Rizzardi, Wegman, and Maurer. This has been a very influential  year as a whole since I made a name for myself in the 48s and began creating my own work. I cannot wait for next year, to see how much more I can grow and develop.

Gish Screening Post 1: Scarlet Street (Lang, 1945)

For my first screening, I attended the Gish on a Tuesday night to see the film Scarlet Street (Lang, 1945). This is a noir film highlighting the themes of greed, guilt, and revenge. These themes are commonly seen in most films of this genre and have a major focus on the lighting of the film to convey the tonal elements discussed in Block’s book, The Visual Story.

Scarlet Street begins by introducing the protagonist, Christopher Cross, a very modest, depressed, and poor man whose wife doesn’t appreciate him or his art. He comes across a girl named “Kitty” and over the course of the film, it is seen that Kitty uses him for his art and fools him into thinking she loves him, leading to Chris Cross ultimately killing her and suffering from guilt.

This film has a large focus on lighting to present tone, and as Block states, one must “rely on lighting for tonal control” (130). This presents coincidence and noncoincidence of tone in a scene. There is a scene where Chris Cross overhears “Kitty” and her fiancé talk about their plot and how she doesn’t love Chris Cross but is using him for his artwork. In this scene the lighting is very dark on Chris Cross in order to portray how he has been left in the dark all of this time and is shocked to find this information out.

In scenes where Chris Cross and “Kitty” are getting along and first getting to know each other, there is much brighter lighting with hardly any shadows. It isn’t until later in the film that the lighting is used to present an underlying tone of deceit and betrayal.

           Lighting is as well used to exhibit contrast between the characters in the scenes throughout the film. In the seen where Chris Cross is about to snap and kill Kitty, there is a contrast in color as Kitty wears an all white night gown as Chris wears a black suit that is highly contrasted with the rest of the area within the frame.

          It can be seen in this image that the orientation of the shot exhibits the white on the left in contrast with the black on the right. This is because; “Orientation, direction, and quality are visual aspects of line that are immediately useful to the picture maker, because they are quickly recognizable by an audience” (Block 108). What this means is that the orientation of having Chris in black on the right of the frame while Kitty is to the left of the frame in white is in order to draw more attention from the audience to the contrast between the two characters. The orientation of the mirror in the space as well is used to exhibit how Kitty is two-faced and has been lied to Chris Cross.

I started shooting two weeks ago with my 3 friends who were filming for their final applied aesthetics. I did the cinematography for my friend Troy, and acted in my friend Kevin’s project. I was later re-casted because of unavailability and the need to re-shoot due to technical issues. I contacted one of the many actors to appear for his role in one of the chapters and filmed that entire scene. It turned out alright…but there was one shot with the camera out of focus and I’m forced to use that shot. I had sound equipment, filming equipment and lighting. It was a successful day of shooting. Until I started editing. When editing it together there are parts that appear very low in quality and at times out of focus. I’m not too upset with it merely because I have a ton more to shoot.

I organized Friday as the day where I shoot my character running (the opening credits scene). I need a lot of people that day to play extras that I run by.

I do have a semi-completed script that I keep adding to as well…
I have my friend Zach Ferguson on Boom, Troy Harbour on camera 1, Kevin Canavan on camera 2, Jake Extine on camera 3. And I set up all of the cameras for each shot. When I am not in the scene, I shoot everything with one camera and have complete control as I go nuts with cinematography power. I had a large self-esteem boost when my friends praised my cinematography and directing during the shoot for Troy’s music video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wILSeyb4sMs
I recommend watching most of it…it is an interesting one..
Next year I plan on doing my own 48 hour group with Troy & Zach among a few others.
I found that we work very well together and are all easy going and know our strengths.

Bad News:
My star for the second story, Casey is too busy and it seems very improbable that he’ll be able to help out and I’m either recasting him and getting Nick Redding, or changing up the concept as a whole.  I may just focus on the running man story and get everything for that done and screen that story told out of order on its own. Over the summer and course of next year I will film the other two stories and complete my ultimate vision. This Friday and weekend is my big filming day.
I don’t like spoilers but I will say that there are a ton of cameos made by other film and theater majors.

“Little from Lots”:
This Just in! the newest Tom “Cyfe” production has recently announced the confirmed casting of Walter Meuller of the Plastic Shatners!

The Unnamed Tom “Cyfe” project just casted actor and filmmaker Tom “Cyfe” as a character in this film! what a shocker…

Zachary Ferguson, Troy Harbour, and Kevin Canavan have been added to the cast of the untitled Tom “Cyfe” project!

Filming Update:

Here is a really rough cut of the filming. It is merely a group of edited clips that will eventually be thrown in amongst other shots that I have yet to shoot.

https://vimeo.com/93376937

Click it if you dare…in my opinion it sucks…but does achieve the Symmetrical look that I wanted.

UPDATE  5/1/14

I always have a back up plan for most everything I do in life. So…I began collecting footage for an experimental film that was inspired by my spur-of-the-moment cinema silence entry. This is an experimental that will convey movement, rhythm, tone, montage editing, contrast, and incorporate the editing skills I have learned over the course of the semester. It seems pretty good so far but will be my backup plan if my original concept falls through.

UPDATE 5/2/14

Coordinating with my actors worked out better than I expected. I learned the struggles and importance of time management while organizing around six film majors’ busy busy schedules.

Here is a promotional update featuring four of the scenes that I filmed today.

This film will consist of three cinematically different stories that are all told out of order through chapters. Here is the Breakdown

Story 1-Narrative Comedy
This story is told in a very symmetrical film style with a large focus on color and static shots depicting a man running past a bunch of buildings and people. The audience does not know what they are running from or why they are running but the character keeps running into trouble…literally.

Story 2-Horror Drama
“The Top Hat Killer” it is told in noir style horror film with deep shadows and contrast accompanied with erie low angle shots, oblique angles and canted/dutch angled shots. This character is first seen covered in blood and looking like a wreck as he enters into his home where his wife greats him with 2 day old breakfast for dinner food and their dysfunctional relationship is portrayed through a disturbing waltz to loud radio frequencies. This character is as well seen on multiple killing montages as other characters are trying to put an end to the Top Hat Killer.

Story 3-Romantic Comedy
The third story which is told in a linear story having all chapters in order is a more realistically shot film that is reminiscent of films by directors such as Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan. This story tells of a normal day with a group of friends playing exaggerated versions of themselves like in This is The End. The main character of this story is looking for a date to a movie screening at the Gish and the story follows him and his many failures and reeling in a girl.

The End
At the end, all three stories come together and it is revealed how they relate to one another.

I will be working individually with the help of my very close friends Zach & Troy while using a Boom, tripod, car as a dolly pan, artificial lighting and cameras from Jake Extine & Kevin Canavan.

Estimated time of Film: 6-7 minutes

Estimated Director’s cut- 12 minutes

Primary challenges-getting it all filmed by May 8th and being able to have the cast I want for the film. Editing will most definitely be fun….

Film Festival:

Film Studies Presentations:

The Sign of the Cross

The sign of the cross was a controversial film by director Cecil B. Demille that was released in 1932. Demille was known for his Biblical Epics and silent films. Several of the Epics included The Ten Commandments & The Sign of the Cross among others. He made about 70 films with only 6 becoming successful. Reviews of this film state the casting decisions and mostly positive views in the newspapers about film at the time like FilmDaily & The Hollywood Reporter. There were several scenes within the film that raised concern and pushed the Production Code to the point of them forming The Legion of Decency. This organization would enforce the code on films and was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. The “Milk Bath Scene” in the film features nudity and lesbianism. Both are prohibited by the Production Code of the 1930s.

Red-Headed Woman

Another controversial film of the 193os that was released in 1932 by director Jack Conway. This film as well pushed the production code as it featured a promiscuous red-haired female protagonist who went around causing trouble by sleeping with a variety of men. There are several scenes featuring nudity and romance on screen. There is as well consumption of alcohol in some scenes. The scenes that were shown included the protagonist swapping nightgowns with another woman, having an affair with a man, drinking to become drunk, and on screen kissing.

Film Screenings:

Friday Screening

Of course “Tom Cyfe” attended the screenings! I went to not only support the films I was in and helped with, but to support my friends and see some awesome college films made by others. On the first night, there was never a really dull moment as I enjoyed almost every film that was screened. I really liked the Shadows film by Gabe & the visually spectacular Adrift (I’m biased). My favorite of the night, however, was titled Farewell by Chris Wegmen. It made me happy and sad and moved…in only two minutes. The horror films were neat as well. Toy Box was great! I love Tyler, & I’ve seen all his films at least twice, but Silentium will most likely take the award…that experimental stuff….

Saturday Screening

The next day, Comedy night was great! I loved supporting all of my friends that worked on Clarity. I figured that it was the best in it’s category until I saw The Hiccup Killer. I loved Walter White in it & proudly congratulate him on his win for Best Actor. maybe next year I will have a chance at that award…never know…I was truly blown away with the amazing music videos! I’ve seen Au Reviour…but that Gutshot should have been the winner of best picture overall in my opinion! Sadly I could not make it to the last of the categories, but I crossed my fingers that End of Winter would win something. It did!

Awards Ceremony

It was fixed. The judges were paid….JUST KIDDING! I loved all of the winners, especially seeing Zach Ferguson run up to that stage twice! I even had a special thanks! I love that guy…I forgot I was in that animation…perhaps I should follow my dreams as a voice actor…CONGRATULATIONS TO PAIGE DRISCOLL! We’ve always been considered twins in certain aspects, but she always surpasses me…while I fall, she flies… 😀

Vera:

That stressed me out from the moment that curly haired Logan Jacot started throwing a tantrum about stolen money till the end when…it ended. From a cinematic standpoint, there were some truly amazing shots that I truly fell in love with! It told an awesome story of some college kids that I actually knew. Like Josh Powell! I never knew he used to have long hair and laid on beds of nails…I loved the shots with the snake and the fireworks. But most of all, the beautiful shots at the beginning of a bunch of views and angles of the circus park rides. It gave me goosebumps! The shot that is used in the poster as well was beautiful! But with the beautiful shots aside, the film was filled with drama and really stressed me out. However, it told a story beautifully through a great documentary. It was well organized and told…if only the drama didn’t happen. But it really captured the reality of what happened.

Movement & Rhythm from Tom Cyfe on Vimeo.

An experimental video exemplifying the aspects associated with movement & rhythm

Monochrome color scheme

This image clearly conveys a monochromatic color scheme as the subject and environment are all of one primary color. In this photograph the white balance conveys a blue monochromatic image that I edited in post as I tweaked the colors of the photo.

Complementary color scheme

This image conveys complementary colors by using the opposite colors of Blue & Orange to separate the background from the foreground. The subject is seen wearing blue and standing in the foreground. The complementary color to blue, orange, is the color of the background. However there is the exception of his face & orange plastic seen on the Nerf Blaster. This was to keep with the color scheme.

After Effects Screenshot

Photoshop File

JPEG

This is not the first collaboration I’ve done in order to make a film, as I’ve collaborated many times before with others in order to produce 48-hour films for the film festivals on campus. However, this was the first directing collaboration I’ve had with someone. The advantages is having two sets of eye to see the little details in the shot for shot of the film along with having a shared amount of work between each other. In addition having distributed work could be very helpful. I was able to supply connections to get the actors, dress them up, and bring them to the set while my partner would give the main directions to them for the shot. I would give acting advice from time to time. There are more potential disadvantages of collaboration as well. I have to rely a lot on my partner since they had the equipment and if they for some reason didn’t make it to the shooting day or there was a miscommunication error on my part, we would be doomed. Another disadvantage is that we have to share the vision with someone else as we would have to come to a solid agreement on which film to choose a clip from along with deciding how to film the shots. I was more focused on the actions in the scene while my partner was more focused on setting up the shot. This lead to us just getting the shots and not worrying about weather or not the things happening within the shot was exact. Overall, I prefer working with others in most situations, however if it is an original concept and vision of my own, I would prefer to have more control as the director, and producer while having distributed work between others.

The Affinity of Tone

This is affinity because it utilizes a third of the middle tones of the grayscale. This was difficult to achieve since there can only be a few tones of gray and if it has too much black or white, it can appear to be too contrasty.

The Contrast of Tone

This is an example of a contrast tone as it only uses black and white and skips all shades of gray in between. This creates a huge contrast between the light and dark areas of the photograph as they are greatly amplified. This is an over-the-top example of contrast as I took the contrast up as much as I could when editing the image.

This is a less extreme example of contrast, as it incorporates slightly more detail while still focusing primarily on the high contrast between the two extremes of black and white.

The Noncoincidence of Tone

This image is an example of noncoincidence tone as it is a silhouette of a figure’s head. In a portrait shot like this, the facial features should be better defined to be considered a coincidence shot. In this case, you cannot clearly make out the features of the subject. As said in the reading “the tonal organization of the shot hides the subject (the face) from the audience” (Block 126).

I chose to capture an image that demonstrates linear motif

This is an image of the tables in the Compton Computer Lab.
I set them up in such a way that made them linearly oriented.

Above, is the image with the lines defined in it.

This image is done to convey a very organized spaced that is practically sterile as it is so oriented. I attempted to convey a very plain yet seemingly robotic style environment as it is oriented with almost perfect spacing and aligned with the mirrors.

Film is art.
Film tells a story.
Film educates the audience.
Film is visually pleasing to the eye.

I have always felt that a film is a gateway to an entire new world that is set up by an artist/director who has an extravagant vision. When making a film, I think of the endless possibilities foe what I could have it be about. The subject matter is only the half of it. Film is an art, and should be presented like that through elaborate camera angles, use of abstract lighting, color related themes to fit the mood of the film. Go grand with the costume designs and set design. This all together helps to make the film visually pleasing. While I believe in educating the audience, I believe that every film, no matter how dark it is, should have at least one moment of comedy to give people a break from the dark subject matter. Being a comedian has influenced this, along with the fact that I’ve always enjoyed making people laugh.

-Tom Cyphert

“A film is like a gourmet italian dish. When the ingredients come together it conjures up a masterful dish. A film, with just the right amount of each ingredient can become a mouth-watering main course meal”
-2 cups of entertainment
-1 tsp of humor
-3 cups of messages relating to society
-3 table spoons of art

The following is my favorite because of the cool alien like aesthetic.
It features Jaylon standing infront of the windows of the Wolfe Center


When messing around with the exposure settings to create an overexposed image, I was able to create this photo which came out to be pretty cool looking.

Aperture:

The opening of the lens diaphragm within the camera, regulating the amount of light that is allowed to pass through the camera. The aperture is measured in numbers called f/stops. The lower the f/stop number, the greater the exposure because the lower the number, the larger the opening of the lens in, allowing for more light to pass through. This can affect depth of field as well in which the lower the f/stop, the blurrier the background is of an image and the higher the f/stop, the sharper the background becomes.

Works Cited

Nikon. “Understanding Maximum Aperture.” NikonUSA. MyNikon, 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/g3cu6o1r/understanding-maximum-aperture.html>.

Searching Definition…

Did you mean Film Production Major Tom Cyphert?

Tom·Cyphert /Tô-m·Si·ÿfə·rt/ (noun):
1. A nineteen year old sophomore film production major from the Cleveland area currently attending Bowling Green State University.
2. Film Major, Performer, Movie Buff, & Pixel Artist appearing in short films by Jake Extine along with performing in 2 improv troupes.

Synonyms:
1. Hipster Wannabe

AutoBio:

My brother practically raised me on movies, having me watch tons of great movies from the 70s, 80s, and 90s starting at a really young age. I’ve always loved movies and been a huge fan of the classics. My favorites are Goodfellas, The Goonies, The Burbs, The Godfather (of course), & Zombieland. I started making films on YouTube back in 2006, when it was relatively new…I regret making those films…I had always dreamt of being a film editor until I realized I liked writing & directing an equal amount. Than I became a part of the Improv scene in my high school as I would perform improvised games similar to the ones in the show Whose Line is it Anyway? When coming to BGSU I became a part of two improv troupes and continue to perform in front of huge audiences along with acting in 48 hour films and other side projects. I found that I have some descent acting skills through all of this. So now I’ve decided that I want to do it all when following my dream to become an independent filmmaker.